I love making casseroles and I could eat them every day and all year round. But - until last year - I've always shied away from using stewing pork as I found that all cuts (even lovely, fatty shoulder) turned out too dense, dry and fibrous - no matter how long I braised them. As a committed pork lover this was a source of huge frustration and irritation - until I started to read about "the new pork boys in town": pig cheeks (you can see them in the 2nd photo of my pig's head terrine.) And, low and behold, there they were in all my supermarkets - I had simply not noticed them before! And what a dream they are to stew: like lamb and beef they become tender and melting and they have lots of porky flavour. And, on top of that, they are extremely economical - a kg costs well under 10€.

Therefore this year I'm kicking off my stewing season with an absolutely stunning recipe by my new chef hero Bruno Loubet (who combines the cooking of his native South-West France with modern Pan-Asian influences) from his brilliant new book Mange Tout - he uses beef cheeks but I can promise you that my pork version is EQUALLY sensational. And - like every other stew - this is really easy, so don't be put off by the quite long list of ingredients: you just chuck everything in the pot with the browned meat and vegetables and the oven does all the hard work for you:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 kg pork cheeks

300g carrots, chopped

200g celery, chopped

2 onions, chopped

4 fat garlic cloves, crushed

5cm piece
of fresh root ginger, chopped

1 star
anise

1lemongrass
stalk, crushed*

3 tbsp
pomegranate molasses**

9 tbsp Kecap
manis (sweet Indonesian soy sauce)

2 tbsp sweet
chilli sauce or 2 tbsp soft brown sugar

3 Kaffir lime
leaves, bruised (or the grated rind of 1 large lime)

500ml beef or veal
stock (from a cube)

3 green
cardamom pods, crushed

Grated zest of 1 orange, plus 1 long piece of peel

3 tbsp lime
juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C.
Heat half the oil in a large
frying pan and brown the meat
on all sides, then remove and set aside.
Add the rest of the oil, then add the carrots,
celery, onions and garlic and fry gently over a medium heat until soft.
Put the meat in a
casserole or ovenproof dish, add the vegetables and then
all the remaining ingredients. Add enough water to cover the cheeks
with 2-3cm of
liquid above the meat. Cover with the lid
and cook in the oven for three hours or until the
meat is meltingly tender and almost falls apart.***

I also made this (slightly adapted/simplified) Mango Salad from the original recipe - absolutely delicious and easy too:

1 mango,
peeled and diced

6 spring
onions, finely sliced

1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced

3 tbsp each
of roughly chopped mint, coriander and
basil****

4 tbsp sesame
oil

1 garlic clove

1 tsp chopped fresh root ginger

3 tbsp lime
juice

2 tbspsoft brown sugar (or 1 plus 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce)

1 tbsp sesame seeds

Whisk all the
dressing ingredients in a blender (or
simply with a small hand whisk) until smooth. Sprinkle
the salad with the sesame seeds and serve everything with plain boiled rice.

Notes*I've said it before - and I'll say it again: lemongrass stalks freeze really well - they just go a tiny bit soft when defrosted (which makes them so much easier to use).

**If you can't find/don't have pomegranate molasses (which are tart and sweet) you can use equal amounts of honey and (balsamic) vinegar instead. ***The original recipe uses double the amount of meat ie 2 kg, and the vegetables are discarded and the sauce gets reduced - but I prefer my less "cheffy" stew!
****I didn't have any of the herbs when I made this - or rather I couldn't locate my mint in the dark garden... but it was still delicious without them - and would be with either just one or two of them too.

Saturday, 16 November 2013

(I wrote this blog in German yesterday because I was taking part in the "EuropeanMultilingual Blogging Day 2013" http://euonym.eu/dmb2013/ - it was great great fun but now we're back to business as usual:)

When I read, a short while ago, that the actress and (former) hard-core
vegan/macrobiotic dieter Gwyneth
Paltrow is a big fan of (curly) kale, I could hardly contain my
excitement: "In.The.Bag! Kohl und Pinkel* (North German kale stew) –
now we're talking, Gwynnie!“

"Don't be shy –
have another Kochwurst (spicy sausage) - and another pound of
Kassler(smoked pork)!!“ I shrieked in
giddy abandonment.

Imagine my
disappointment, though, when I found out that Ms Paltrow does NOT
prefer her Grünkohl (kale) the "hearty" Northern German
way: as a wintery, rich stew with LOTS of fatty, porky bits. NO. She
only eats curly kale "au naturel". (But then again, why was I
surprised by that – especially as, at the same time, she had banned
ALL carbohydrates from her two children's
diet - which means no bread, potatoes,
pasta or rice for poor Apple (9) and Moses
(7). But this is not all
as, according to her, everyone in her house — including
husband Chris Martin — is "intolerant of gluten, dairy and
chicken’s eggs - among many other surprising
foods“.** (This is, of course, on
top of an all-out sugar, chocolate, fast food and
snacks ban...) HOWEVER, her
two can happily imbibe in their
mommy's "kale chips" (a big bunch of kale leaves baked –
100% oil-less - in the oven until
"crisp") and wash it all down with her kale "detox
juice", so there IS a silver lining!)

But Ms
Paltrow has got it somehow right, though: curly
kale is suddenly all the range – it's the trendy newcomer in the
hippest restaurants of New York and London. It's easy to see why: curly kale is not only totally delicious, but also extremely
nutritious and healthy as it's packed with vitamins,
minerals and antioxidants. It's very easy to prepare and can be eaten
raw, steamed or stir-fried. On top of that, it's cheap: even in the organic shop/stall I buy it from*** it's only €1.50/kg. My preferred way of eating it, however,
is as this most delicious stir-fry (which is slightly adapted from a
Waitrose recipe):

Cut the
beef into very thin slices*****.Mix
the sesame oil, rice wine and soy sauce in
a shallow dish and add the meat. Mix well
and leave to marinate for 10 minutes.

Heat half the oil in a frying pan or
wok. Add the beef and stir-fry for about 3 minutes until browned.
Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

Wipe the pan and add the remaining oil.
Heat through then add the onion, garlic and ginger. Fry for a minute
then add the kale (and chillies if using)
and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until wilted. Return the beef to the pan
and add the black bean sauce. Fry together for a minute then serve
with boiled rice.

Notes:

*Pinkel is a fatty,
highly aromatic haggis-like sausage (but without the offal).

** The humble tomato
is another source of caution for Ms Paltrow: she
advises to only eat them "if you're NOT avoiding
nightshade plants because of
inflammation". (???)

***Unfortunately, curly kale is not that easily available in Brussels, as both the Belgians and the French still regard it solely as „cattle fodder“. But organic producers sell it, and I get mine from the shop at this organic farm in Laeken – and they also have a stall on this Friday market in Schaerbeek/Etterbeek.**** I always use a sachet of Amoy's black bean sauce - easily available in Brussels supermarkets and in the UK.

*****Place
the steaks in the freezer for 20 minutes - this makes them so much easier to slice
very thinly!

About Me

I'm passionate about easy, tasty and affordable home cooking! I'm also a mother of two and I live in Brussels, Belgium. I'm a keen and enthusiastic home cook with a vast repertoire of "tried-and-tested" dishes - all easy to make and delicious to eat. I'm also a passionate bargain hunter and can often be found lurking in the aisles of Lidl and Aldi sniffing out their foodie treasures...